Opinion: A cornucopia of stuff

Less than a month from Thanksgiving? It is bonkers how fast this year has flown!

Deb RobinsonEditor

Less than a month from Thanksgiving? It is bonkers how fast this year has flown!

I’ve been immersed in the newspaper business since the age of 24 and I sometimes forget those who aren’t working in this climate don’t necessarily know the jargon we use.

For example, there is a huge difference between an article (i.e. city council, school board, county board, etc.) and an editorial.

This is an editorial. An editorial is an opinion piece, my opinion, thoughts, musings, whatever. It’s written in first person. Articles are not. Readers may decide they don’t agree with my take on any given topic and that’s cool. How many people have died to ensure we have freedom of speech? I take that seriously and I am grateful as an American I am able to write whatever I desire in this space. I absolutely know there are people who hate every single word I write. That’s okay. They are entitled to their opinion, but I’m not going to quit writing editorials. Being able to write editorials is one of the few perks we get. Just as I don’t read every article in magazines I subscribe to, people are free to skip things in the paper they don’t dig. I stand by everything I’ve ever written in an editorial which brings me to other stuff in my cornucopia.

I’ve had people inquire on occasion if I’m a ‘cop supporter.’

I’m not ashamed to say I am. As I’ve said before reporters need to have a symbiotic relationship with the various entities they depend upon for information, help, whatever. I’m not naive. I know not every police officer is exemplary, but the majority of the ones I have worked with are.

In the last few years cops have been doing their job with a larger target on their backs than usual. Some are quick to jump on everything they do.

Not long ago in Peoria a man suspected of robbing a bank was fatally shot by officers.

The old saying, ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ holds true even in this day and age. Add an officer involved shooting and holy cow, watch the ensuing show.

When I was a stringer for the Rock Island Argus I covered Mercer County (Aledo, Keithsburg, New Boston, etc.). I absolutely loved assignments I was given by my editor which included government, police and features. I got to know the sheriff pretty well and a lot of the guys. Sheriff Thompson and I met one morning for a feature I was working on.

One complaint he heard a lot was, “Why not just shoot them (a suspect) in the leg?”

As he explained, while it doesn’t happen often (at least back then), when a threat is imminent they are taught, when all else fails, to neutralize it.

For example, if you’re walking towards officers with a visible weapon and you won’t listen to verbal commands the situation is going to escalate and typically it won’t end in the suspect’s favor.

I participated in a shooting simulation in the past. It was set up similar to a video game. Honestly, I thought, ‘how hard could it be?’. Shoot the bad guys and not the bystanders. The second I had the ‘gun’ in my hands my adrenaline skyrocketed. Let’s just say I did not do well.

Officers, on the other hand, have a wealth of training that is ongoing throughout their career. The majority of those who undertake law enforcement as a career do so because they want to help people, not hurt them.

Transparency has become such a buzzword. Some feel they are entitled to know what’s happening step-by-step in any given situation.

I am a huge advocate of transparency, but not if it is going to put an officer or their family in danger. In an on-going investigation it’s unusual, to say the least, that names and pics of officers involved in a shooting are made public before the investigation is complete.

I won’t print information such as that. As a reporter I know how dicey it could get putting that information in the general public’s hands. That’s not being transparent, that’s being reckless. If I published such information and something happened to one of the officers or a member of their family I would never be able to forgive myself.

With social media and a ton of competing news agencies vying to be top dog, I realize they are under pressure to be first with the latest information, but being in this line of work comes with a lot of responsibility. I have always said if something is said to me off the record, that’s where it stays. I would gladly go to jail to protect a sourceEarly Sunday morning a Rockford Police Officer, Jaimie Cox, made a traffic stop in the area of East State Street and Dawn Avenue. He called in around 1 a.m. about a shooting near Rockford University.

A short time later, police say the officer made a brief radio transmission indicating he needed assistance.

Police responded to that area and found a single-car crash. Officers reportedly found Officer Cox critically injured at the scene. He was immediately transferred to the hospital where he later died.

How will that narrative read? Will it be the typical jargon, “He knew being a cop was dangerous.”

Will the story stay in the news cycle for days, weeks? Most likely not.

Things are not going to change anytime soon. It’s safe to say what we are currently experiencing will most like be accepted as the new normal before long and that should be unsettling for everyone.

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